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Bill Knott (poet)
William Kilborn Knott (17 February 1940 - 12 March 2014) was an American poet and academic. Life Knott was born in Carson City, Michigan. He earned an M.F.A. from Norwich University, and studied with John Logan in Chicago. Knott taught at Emerson College for more than 25 years. His debut collection of poems, The Naomi Poems: Corpse and beans, was published in 1968 under the name "Saint Geraud," a fictional persona whose backstory included a suicide 2 years prior to the publishing.Adam Travis, An interview with Bill Knott at Bookslut, 2005. Web, Jan 9, 2009. The Naomi Poems was well received, and brought Knott to the attention of such poets as James Wright, who called him an "unmistakable genius." Writing Early in his career, Knott was noted for writing unusually short poems, some as short as a line, and untitled. Later he became interested in metrical verse forms and syllabics. He was not a believer in poetic "branding" and throughout his career refused to restrict himself to a particular school or style of writing. His poetry's subjects, themes and tones were also wide-ranging. His work often displayed a wry, self-deprecating sense of humor, and he was critical of what he saw as an epidemic of humorlessness in contemporary American poetry. Poets who cite him as an influence include Thomas Lux, Mary Karr, Stephen Dobyns, Denise Duhamel, Denis Johnson, and Janaka Stucky. A selection of Knott's work, I Am Flying Into Myself: Selected poems, 1960-2014, was compiled by Thomas Lux and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux in 2017. Recognition Knott was awarded the Iowa Poetry Prize and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Billy Collins included Knott's poem, "Advice from the Experts," in his 2003 anthology, Poetry 180."Advice from the Experts, Poetry 180, Poetry and Literature, Library of Congress. Web, June 14, 2018. Publications Poetry *''The Naomi Poems, Book 1: Corpse and beans''. Chicago: Big Table, 1968. *''Aurealism: A study'' (chapbook). Syracuse, NY: Salt Mound, 1970. *''Nights of Naomi''. Somerville, MA: Barn Dream Press, 1971. *''Auto-Necrophilia; The _____ Poems, Book 2''. Chicago: Big Table, 1971. ISBN 0-695-80188-0 *''Love Poems to Myself''. Boston: Barn Dream Press, 1974. *''Rome in Rome''. Brooklyn, NY: Release Press, 1976. *''Selected and Collected Poems''. New York: Sun, 1977. *''Becos: Poems''. New York: Random House, 1983. ISBN 0-394-52924-3 *''Poems, 1963-1988''. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press, 1989. ISBN 0-8229-5416-8 *''Outremer: Poems''. Iowa City, IA: University of Iowa Press, 1989. ISBN 0-87745-255-5 *''Collected Political Poems, 1965-1992''. Boston: privately published, 1992. *''Sixty Poems of Love and Homage'' (chapbook). Boston: privately published, 1994. *''The Quicken Tree: Poems''. Brockport, NY: BOA Editions, 1995. ISBN 1-880238-24-1 *''Plaza de Loco: New poems, 1999''. Boston: privately published, 1999. *''Laugh at the End of the World: Collected comic poems, 1969-1999''. Rochester, NY: BOA Editions, 2000. ISBN 1-880238-84-5 *''Collected Political Poems, 1965-2001''. Boston: privately published, 2001. *''The Unsubcriber''. New York: Farrar, Straus, & Giroux, 2004. ISBN 0-374-53014-9 *''Other Strangers than Our Own: Selected love poems. Boston: privately published, 2005. *''Stigmata Errata Etcetera. Philadelphia: Saturnalia Books, 2007. ISBN 978-0-9754990-4-7 Novel *''Lucky Darrel: A novel'' (with James Tate). Brooklyn, NY: Release Press, 1977. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Bill Knott, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Sep. 14, 2016. See also *List of U.S. poets References Notes External links ;Poems *"Advice from the Experts" at Poetry 180 *americanpoems.com - A short biography and several poems by Bill Knott * Bill Knott b. 1940 at the Poetry Foundation *''Selected Political Poems, 1965-2005'' *Bill Knott at PoemHunter (51 poems) ;Books *Bill Knott at Amazon.ca *Self-published books ;Audio / video *Bill Knott at YouTube ;About *Bill Knott Archive *[http://www.memorious.org/?id=140 An interview with Bill Knott, Memorious 6. 2006 *An interview with Bill Knott at Bookslut, 2005 Category:1940 births Category:2014 deaths Category:American male poets Category:People from Montcalm County, Michigan Category:Guggenheim Fellows Category:Norwich University alumni Category:Chapbook writers Category:American poets Category:Living people Category:20th-century poets Category:English-language poets Category:Poets Category:American academics Category:People from Michigan